As hospital patients battle illness alone — a consequence of visitor restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic — staff members are figuring out how to use technology to connect them to loved ones.

At the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago, more iPads were needed to do so. Cubs Charities answered the call.

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The charity arm of the Chicago Cubs has been delivering meals to front-line health care workers in recent weeks, specifically focusing on hospitals and clinics that are more in need on the South and West sides, including UIC. Dr. Terry Vanden Hoek, chief medical officer, said the charity asked him after a meal delivery if the hospital needed anything else.

“That’s always a nice sentence to hear,” he said.

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A member of his staff had just told him of a friend who lost her husband to COVID-19, and noted that the man died alone, unable to be with his wife, even over FaceTime. The staff member asked Vanden Hoek, “What are we doing at UI Health to prevent this from happening?'”

“It’s a good question,” he said.

After consulting with IT staff, Vanden Hoek said he let Cubs Charities know the hospital needed iPads for the patients to communicate with their families.

Not all patients have their own iPads, he said, and doctors and nurses were sometimes using their own phones so patients could call loved ones. The hospital also asked for stands for some of the devices because critical patients often are too weak to hold an iPad, and COVID-19 patients are sometimes put on their stomachs for a respiratory treatment, making it difficult to handle any technology.

Cubs Charities funded the purchase of 75 iPads, 75 cases and 25 stands, recently delivered to the hospital. Some are already in use, throughout the hospital, not just in COVID-19 units, Vanden Hoek said.

The charity wants to promote a sense of community and this seemed like the perfect fit, especially as it looks to help those in the city in the greatest need, said Executive Director Alicia Gonzalez.

“While we know this is a disease that isolates folks, it’s even more so for vulnerable populations,” she said. “There’s a digital divide with our vulnerable populations. A lot of them don’t have iPads; they don’t have the access to connect with their families.”

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“It’s a really important connection to make,” Vanden Hoek added, and not just for critical patients during the final hours of life. “Being in a hospital is a stressful enough thing, and you’re fighting illness — you want to get well.”

Besides support, making a connection can also help “orient” someone during a hospital stay, he said.

“We know having visits from people you recognize, seeing familiar faces, can get you back to some level of orientation,” he said. “Your wife calls every morning, or your son calls every evening.”

One patient just used an iPad to help celebrate a grandchild’s birthday, Vanden Hoek said. Families with babies in the neonatal intensive care unit are using them. And another patient used one to communicate with his mother, who was also in the hospital, both sick with COVID-19.

“We’ve had many, many big wins here already in figuring out how to deal with COVID, but this is one of the bigger wins I’ve seen,” he said.